Table Talk: Heart

After a Cherokee petroglyph by Phillip Hoyle

     Well-known people come to the spa for massage. We are instructed to treat them as we would anyone else who is a guest. One day I asked a celebrity client if he had any places that hurt or needed special attention. “My brain,” he said. I laughed and told him about Richard who, when I asked him if he had any particular pains, replied, “My heart.” I told Richard I don’t do heart massage, but I would be mindful of his heart while I worked. My celebrity client smiled at the story. I wanted to bring this man deep relaxation through massage so he could set aside, if only momentarily, the things that were causing him mental pain.

     One client wants brain work; another, heart. I can only give a loving, attentive massage to their beautiful and important bodies. One of them is an international pop star, the other a simple though lively guy surviving with AIDS. I appreciate what and who both of these men are. I rub their skin, knead their muscles, and say calming things as I perform a tactile ceremony over them. Sometimes the simplest touch can help soothe a sore muscle or a broken heart. A well-timed and well-placed palpation can ease a ligament or a stressed mind. My goal is to usher them into a sense of presence with their bodies so they can value and adore their very real selves.

     People come to me with headaches or tired muscles, and sometimes both. Others arrive at the table with troubled minds and broken hearts. I give them massage. The touch to their bodies helps them relax. The words create acceptance. I sometimes ask for details related to their pains and extend my sympathy when it seems helpful. I strive to bring perspective whether the issues relate to child rearing, relationships, or information about the body. But important as my words may be, the main feature of the time together is my touch--its quality and the concern it communicates.

     Asian massage modalities use compressions on the surface of the skin to impact internal organs. This external-to-internal effect is sometimes cited as the primary distinction between Eastern and Western massage. However, Western modalities also accomplish an external-to-internal change. For example, Swedish massage affects skeletal muscles by increasing circulation. The increase in turn affects the heart as an organ. And, through the relaxation of the body, Swedish massage can affect even Richard’s broken heart. Surely similar things can be said of massage’s effect on the brain, both physiologically and psychologically.

     Massage appeals to several common denominators of human experience: sore muscles, headaches, feeling stressed, and more. It brings its simple or profound relief to rich and poor, healthy and ill, famous and unknown in equal measure. A sage of the Hebrew Bible pointed out that all persons come into and leave the world naked. They show up on the massage table in the same condition, and whatever the externals of their livelihood and general experience, they share the same body pains and need the same relief.

Divine healer, like you, may we hear the deep groaning 

of others and of ourselves. 

Teach us to touch and affect one another as we open ourselves deeply to your love. 

Amen.

Mixed media collage by Phillip Hoyle